Moscow – Russian politicians on Friday blamed the United States for undermining global security by ending compliance with a nuclear arms treaty, while European countries…
Moscow – Russian politicians on Friday blamed the United States for undermining global security by ending compliance with a nuclear arms treaty, while European countries watched with dismay and NATO said Russia was at fault for the pact’s demise.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty had been a cornerstone of international security since the United States and the Soviet Union signed it in 1987. The treaty bans the development, deployment and testing of land-based nuclear weapons with a range of 310-3,400 miles.
The U. S. announcement that it would stop observing the treaty as of Saturday and would withdraw from it within six months came after years of dispute between Moscow and Washington, each claiming the other was in violation. In particular, the United States said a new Russian missile breached the treaty.
But Russia accused the United States of unilaterally seeking to neuter the treaty and of resisting Russian attempts to resolve the dispute.
“I ‘congratulate’ the whole world; the United States has taken another step toward its destruction today,” Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, said after the announcement.
“This step carries a threat to the entire system of international security, but first of all for Russia because after leaving the INF the Americans will deploy these missiles in European countries,” said another senator, Igor Morozov.
